Bearing Witness

 

This hope candle has been burning all day. For Max the Man Stone. A twenty-something Warrior from our church family waging war with lymphoma. Rev. Emily J. Kellar hosted a Prayer Vigil for Max today, and my son and I humbly joined the Zoom prayer call. 

Bearing witness…

Together. As a loving community. Finding and giving solace to each other in the really hard places.

Rev. EK read us a beautiful prayer from Mishkan R’fuah: Where Healing Resides, by Eric Weiss, then she invited each of us to light a candle of hope for Max, on this day when he faced yet another painful procedure on his journey to remission.

As I drove to check on my 93 years young Mom who’s recovering from Covid, memories of all those who bore witness alongside our Graceful Woman Warrior’s cancer journey, including Max’s parents, suffused my being. Edging towards those excruciating moments in time with Terri, the tears flowed freely. And I was reminded once again that I experienced my deepest healing when we bore witness to our pain together. 

Because bearing witness is sometimes the only thing we can do.

So many of you did just that for Terri. For Miss M. For me and our whole family. And it meant everything… 

Just as our showing up today meant everything to Max and his family.

So I invite you to bear witness and hold up Max the Man Stone and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

Together, we have the capacity to restore hope with and for each other during the tragic and tumultuous times in our lives.

Because in times of such searing sadness, there really aren’t words or answers.

Just love.

So much love.

With enormous love and gratitude,

Auntie L